The Fraternity of Alpha Kappa Lambda has a proud history that dates to early part of the 20th Century. This organization has weathered the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, two world wars, the Great Depression, the turbulent 60's and all the days in between. Our Ideals and Ritual are timeless.

Through the years we have had many great men join our brotherhood. A fine history of men, events, and traditions has emerged. We hope this page will give you some insight into the world of Alpha Kappa Lambda. We hope in the future to provide much more information from our archives, members, and chapters.

Our Founding

Los Amigos was born out of the need--the need of Christian men for a place to live and study that was within their means. Several students attending the University of California at Berkeley in 1906 discussed the possibility of forming a house club where they might live together as men and brothers, helping each other, encouraging each other, and perhaps living more economically than they could separately.

The earthquake that devastated San Francisco that year delayed the formation of the club for a time, but in 1907 the idea was brought up again among Charles Booth, Harry Osborne, Joseph Taylor and Gail Cleland while they were attending a YMCA Conference together at Pacific Grove, California.

There they made plans to begin Los Amigos, a house club named from the Spanish translation of "The Friends." These men were joined in 1907 by William Barnum, Harold Savage, Oscar Perrine, Herman Bergh, Leonard Day, Allen Kimball, and Ludwig Rehfuess.

"When we organized Los Amigos as a house club...house clubs and fraternities were dime a dozen. They came, they lived for a few months or a few years, then they went out of existence again. But Los Amigos did not go out of existence," recalled Gail Cleland.

Cleland continues, "And seven years later...in response to the suggestion of Benjamin Ide Wheeler, the President of the University of California, we organized our house club as a national fraternity of one chapter."

Past National President William B. Herms (Alpha) described the origins of Alpha Kappa Lambda in THE LOGOS in 1925: "Distinguished scholars contributed to the building of the new Fraternity. (President Wheeler) gave advice and encouragement, Professor Charles Mills Gayley and Professor James T. Allen suggested the name 'Alpha Kappa Lambda' and the motto 'Alethia Kai Logos'."

The founders of Los Amigos were a diverse group, but they all had the common desire for studious living in their college environment and continued integrity after their formal education concluded.

On April 22, 1914, a formation banquet was held in the Hotel Shattuck in Berkley, with members of the new Fraternity and many guests from the community of the University of California in attendance.

Alpha Kappa lambda became the first Fraternity to be founded on the West Coast, indeed west of the Rocky Mountains! Besides being born in the West and spreading east, Alpha Kappa lambda was unique in another way.

"Of particular novelty is statement that the Ideals of the Fraternity are to develop the 'social, intellectual, moral, and religious welfare of it members, (and) to foster and encourage among its members Christian principles, service, higher education, culture, and refinement'," reported The Berkeley Gazette (April 27, 1914) a few days following the formal installation of the Alpha Chapter of Alpha Kappa Lambda.

The Oakland Examiner, in reporting the founding of Alpha Kappa Lambda, said, "Alpha Kappa Lambda was launched with a membership of forty-three and has the hearty sanction of a number of the foremost members of the faculty. The membership comprises largely the roster of Los Amigos Club, an organization which has often ranked first in scholarship standing in the annual reports of the University of California. It is considered significant that many prominent members of the faculty not only endorsed the new fraternity, but assisted in its formation."

The eleven founding members were "typical" college men in many ways, yet atypical in their desire to foster brotherhood, scholarship, and service. Their legacy lives on today in chapters across the nation.

AKL Badge

The Official Badge of the Fraternity is made of ten carat gold, and is set with eleven whole pearls. Among other principles, the eleven pearls represent the original founders of the Los Amigos Club. The badge is worn only on collared shirts, sweaters, or suit vests, and in the traditional position over the heart. The badge may only be worn by initiated members of the Fraternity.

Coat of Arms

During the 1914-15 school year, a committee was appointed to establish insignia for the new fraternity. Among those who served on the committee were Robert I. Daley and Bryant Hall. As Brother Hall recalls:

"We discussed the general ideas first. It was soon agreed that both Los Amigos and the new Fraternity should be represented by a design, and especially that there should be something to symbolize the place of origin, for we were much impressed by the fact that no other fraternity had ever been founded on the West Coast. Many ideas were suggested and discarded but the idea of the sun setting two 'headlands' won unanimous approval. A commercial artist familiar with the many complex rules of heraldry made many subsequent sketches, finally arriving at the accepted design."

The painted original of the Coat of Arms remains, and is one of the treasured possessions of the Fraternity. Members are encouraged to explain the heraldic symbols and insignia to non-members. We are quite proud of our Coat of Arms or "crest" as it is sometimes referred.

The Motto of our Fraternity

"Alethia kai Logos"

The motto of The Fraternity of Alpha Kappa Lambda is "Alethia Kai Logos," which in Classical Greek means "The Truth and the Word."

"The motto is a symbolic statement of our Ideals. We are seekers after Truth, the highest Truth, if you please...And the Word, which again lends itself to interpretation," explains Past National President William B Herms (Alpha).

In addition, Herms continues, "Somebody has said, 'This is the Logos of Alpha Kappa Lambda--Service.' Or fully stated, our motto means 'Devotion to God through Service to Man.' It is abstract enough for any philosopher, and is meaningful to us all."

Gail Cleland, one of the founders of Los Amigos, said, "What is the signifigance of our motto . . ? As Plato suggested, an Ideal is permanent thing, but as Aristotle supplemented, (an Ideal) is effective in the actual world of reality only as it becomes embodied in a concrete expression in the life of a man or an institution. As we (explained) to President Wheeler, 'We don't want to preach Christianity, we want to live it'."

The Yellow Rose

The Souvenir de Claudis Pernet, described as a tantalizing yellow rose was adopted as the Fraternity's Official Flower at the 6th National Conclave in 1927, because "it was not expensive, and its deep golden color matched well with the colors of AKL." The flower was a popular rose in early 1900's. While the Souvenir de Claudis Pernet itself is no longer widely grown, it has many hybridized descendants. The rose was originally bred by a famous French rose-breeder, Joseph Pernet-Ducher, who named the rose after one of his sons who died in World War I.